OLYMPIC MEDALIST – SWIMMING

Ford Hiroshi Konno

Ford Hiroshi Konno swam at McKinley High School and Ohio State.

He won four medals at the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games. At Helsinki, Finland, Konno won gold medals in the 1,500-meter free-style and the 4 x 200-meter free-style swim relays. His time of 18:30:3 in the 1,500 swim was an Olympic record. He also won a silver medal in the 400 meter freestyle. In 1956, he won a silver in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. He is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

BORN 1934

2 responses to “Konno Ford Hiroshi”

  1. Wilfred Tanijo Avatar
    Wilfred Tanijo

    Late 40’s-early 50’s, us Kuakini St kids went to Palama Settlement to swim in the pool. One day, we had to wait until Ford Konno finished his training. We just went – “WOO” – when he dove in and surfaced almost at the end of the pool.

    Reply
  2. Mary Herrick Moltz Avatar
    Mary Herrick Moltz

    Ford Hiroshi Konno was my team’s swim coach at Scholfield Barracks in Hawaii in 1958. He was a kind person, coach and
    example of what a good sport is in his teaching and swimming pursuits. He swam with other great swimmers on the
    military team. What amazing examples of good sportsmanship and excellent swimming. The pool was 100 meters long
    and perfect for showing the young team members what practice and determination can achieve. The 400 meter relays swam by the various military teams was impressive.
    The young Shark team members also swam the 400 IM which was very challenging but we slugged through it with much appreciation of our coaches examples. Ford was a powerful swimmer in Hawaii, college and the Olympics…an excellent
    role model for young swimmers.

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